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We're on the move soon. Longer term we'll be ripping the dated kitchen out and doing a complete refit.
Short term I intend to paint the kitchen units and possibly replace the horrible (and in poor condition) laminate worktop. I'm looking for something cheap and easy to fit (i'm no diy guru but willing to have a play given it's a short term fix).
Initial thoughts were some sort of thick ply (marine ply?) cut to size or some OSM board. Obviously i'd need to figure out how to sand to sand to a suitably smooth finish and how to treat it (oil, varnish, sealer, etc).
Amazingly the wife is up for a cheap bodge until the proper job is done. Anyone got any experience of a ply worktops or advice about what woods/treatments might work out best?
Price up a sheet of suitable thickness marine ply compared to laminate worktop. I know which way you'll be leaning then!
I think you'd need to use marine as the pressure treatment in normal ply might leach out toxins when exposed to water or food items possibly? dunno, just thinking out loud really.
Laminate is very cheap and its easy to fit as its the right size and doesn't need finishing. Even real wood is surprisingly cheap online.
ikea is probably just as cheap for wood worktops as ply would be
Put some fablon on it? Tile over the existing?
+1 for ikea. I guess you don't need to do proper edges as this needs the router jig so you can just go with a horrible metal joiner. Unless you can get square edge worktops not bull nose.
If you buy ply WBP grade means it won'the delamination as the glue is water proof and stays glued even submerged in boiling water. [url= http://www.builderdepot.co.uk/25mm-x-1220mm-x-2440mm-wbp-bb-cc-external-plywood.html ]ply wood linky[/url]
Pretty much anywhere will sell you a short term fix with a laminate or block board worktop. And while it is cheap, it won'the be as cheap as the ply. A light sand and some floor grade varnish would see you right.
I bet it isAnd while it is cheap, it won'the be as cheap as the ply
+2 for ikea
My house had wooden worktops when were moved in from ikea - decent quality and thickness and I think was £40 for 2m or somethign ridiculously cheap like that.
Basically a no brainer to use it over ply - you might even keep it over time!
If you buy ply WBP grade means it won'the delamination as the glue is water proof and stays glued even submerged in boiling water
So make your worktop out of solid sheets of glue. Because regardless of the spec of the glue the wood in-between the layers of glue is still wood and as vulnerable to heat and moisture as it always is. To protect it from that you'd have to give it all the same treatments you'd give a block/stave worktop - so why not start with a stave worktop in the first place so that it doesn't look shit. Or a laminate worktop so that you don't need to prepare, finish or maintain it all all
And while it is cheap, it won'the be as cheap as the ply.
Yes it will - Show me your prices for 40mm thick plywood 🙂
The benefit of buying a worktop is it'll be the size and shape of a worktop straight from the shop. Plywood is too short, twice as wide and half the thickness of a worktop. Its rare to find in sheets thicker than 18mm, in 25mm sheets you can barely move the stuff let alone pick it up. Even at wholesale prices (I buy my ply in pallets of 50 to 100 sheets straight off the dockside) you can't buy ply -volume for volume- cheaper than an off the shelf worktop from B&Q or Ikea..... and its ugly. Unless you're buying AA faced, low void birch ply -in which case it cost a fortune and will turn black anywhere it get wet.
Howdens will sell you a 3m length of 30mm laminate worktop for £30. A 1200x2400 sheet of 18mm ply from Wickes is £26. Save yourself the hassle and buy some laminate.
You'll need an account at Howdens but I got one very easily by telling then that I was doing a renovation...
Ikea usually have solid wood worktops in the 'bargain corner', but it depends how much you need as there'll usually only be single pieces in 2-3m lengths. Price is usually around £60-80
I can't stand laminate, so even though it's the cheapest solution, I can't bring myself to recommend it 🙂
The cheap 3m laminate from B&Q is surprisingly good, no way I'd consider messing about with ply.
Bit of a palaver to get on the trolley though, take a friend.
Yep get some cehap laminate or wood worktop. If you got ply you'd have to ensure it was treated in something food safe, like Osmo Top Oil.
We wanted ply worktops as our whole kitchen is ply. We had them laminated but with the ply edges showing. It worked out a lot cheaper than decent wood/stone/fake stone stuff, but more expensive than cheap worktop or ikea/online wood. I like it though...
[url= https://c2.staticflickr.com/3/2818/10554804193_00cd6b689c.jp g" target="_blank">https://c2.staticflickr.com/3/2818/10554804193_00cd6b689c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/h5G8yD ]image[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/sophandian/ ]Soph and Ian[/url], on Flickr
That looks great Ian - just my cup of tea.
Who did the kitchen?
@Ianpv - your range cooker in the fireplace is what i'm thinking for my kitchen when i get round to it. Did you have it opened up or was it already like that?
Hi Alex, we designed* it and had it built by a joiner who had never built a kitchen before! We basically really liked these [url= http://kerfdesign.com/ ]kerf [/url] designs but they're US based and pricey. It worked out more expensive than an ikea/howdens kitchen, but way less than the hand built high st kitchen people.
*copied some things we liked
Spawnoyork - we had it opened up. There was a gas fire in there. It was an almost perfect size, luckily! It's great to have a proper external extractor going outside - our old house just had one of those recycling ones that didn't really work.
Thanks Ian - yes, whenever I look up plywood kitchen on pinterest, those designs come up. Good that you found a joiner willing! I'd have to do it myself, but I've bought a fancy new Plunge Saw/Track Saw for the job!
Bathroom and bedroom to do first though!
I'm doing exactly same thing at the moment for my new house. Just repainted the doors/trim in my preferred colour (£20 for a tin of Ronseal kitchen unit paint) cleaned the handles and got some old ikea wood worktops of gumtree for £20 - luckily my kitchen is small so can reclaim from the longer lengths. Total budget £40! I need to fit the worktops still so I'll just borrow a jig off a builder I know, but can pick them up cheap. Still need to do the floor thinking of painting over the existing tiles but it's a ball ache to get right.
+1 on just buying the laminate. It's cheaper than ply *and* you don't need to d#%k about sanding & varnishing the whole thing. For a temporary solution it's a no-brainier IMO.
Sometimes Freecycle etc may have useable worktops for nowt.